https://brickinsights.com/statistics/ppp Brick Insights Sets Statistics FAQ Search [ ] Search Not comparing apples to oranges anymore Price Per Part Can we really compare Price Per Part (PPP) between sets? A couple of weeks ago I received this question by Jared Hinton: "Just a quick question on the PPP data. Most years have a average PPP of 20c+ per part. This sounds very high, especially when most sets come way under that (which are then marked as good value). Do Duplo sets get included in the years average PPP figure? Because they tend to be alot higher than LEGO sets. This is the only thing I could think of why the year average is almost double what I'd expect it to be." This is a very good observation, and something I hadn't really thought about. I built the PPP comparison when Brick Insights first launched in 2018, almost as an afterthought. I wanted to see if a set was worth buying from a MOCing point of view, and threw it in to help guide me. It was definitely time to take another look at those calculations. All numbers in this article are adjusted according to inflation to make them comparable over the years. This isn't something we did before this investigation, so thank you for that too, Jared! Check the FAQ to learn the details about this. All categories referenced in this article are collected from Brickset, where we get most of our set data. That's also in the FAQ. 150 set categories with average PPP and example sets Doc Ock's Crime Spree 4 Juniors ($0.48) Remote Control Dozer Action Wheelers ($1.58) Volkswagen T1 Camper Van Advanced models ($0.09) Scorpion Tracker Adventurers ($0.19) River Heist Agents ($0.12) Chill Speeder Alpha Team ($0.21) Deep Sea Treasure Hunter Aqua Raiders ($0.10) Neptune Discovery Lab Aquazone ($0.20) Buckingham Palace Architecture ($0.13) Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe Art ($0.05) Five Set Bonus Pack Assorted ($0.15) Wreck Raider Atlantis ($0.14) Toruk Makto & Tree of Souls Avatar ($0.12) Fire Nation Ship Avatar The Last Airbender ($0.10) Musical Apple Baby ($2.47) Special Value Blue Tub Basic ($0.21) The Batcycle: Harley Quinn's Hammer Truck Batman ($0.12) The Queen's Room Belville ($0.37) Jet Ray Ben 10: Alien Force ($0.95) Lewa - Master of Jungle Bionicle ($0.25) Wave Cops Boats ($0.34) DC Comics Super Heroes Build Your Own Adventure Books ($2.67) Boost Creative Toolbox Boost ($0.20) Batman Brick Sketches ($0.11) The Hulk BrickHeadz ($0.08) The LEGO Story Bricklink ($0.09) LEGO XXL Box Bricks and More ($0.09) Helicopter and Pilot Building Set with People ($0.52) U.S. Flag Bulk Bricks ($0.23) Tokyo Pit Stop Cars ($0.14) Classic Knights Minifigure Castle ($0.21) Pizza Van City ($0.18) Creative Supplement Bright Classic ($0.07) Stylin' Citrus Jewels-n-More Clikits ($0.23) Stitch Collectable Minifigures ($0.45) Pirate Ship Creator ($0.09) NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander Creator Expert ($0.09) Technic II Powered Machines Set Dacta ($2.62) Batman Classic TV Series - Batcave DC Comics Super Heroes ($0.14) Batgirl Batjet Chase DC Super Hero Girls ($0.12) Portal 2 Level Pack Dimensions ($0.31) Ambush Attack Dino ($0.17) Steel Sprinter vs. Mutant Lizard Dino Attack ($0.14) Baby Dimetrodon Dinosaurs ($0.17) Mars Exploration Rover Discovery ($0.12) Disney Castle Disney ($0.16) Cosmic Wonder Bracelet Dots ($0.09) Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny Dreamzzz ($0.10) Emmet and Lucy's Visitors from the DUPLO Planet Duplo ($0.97) Community Minifigure Set Education ($0.94) The Water Dragon Adventure Elves ($0.11) Stealth Hunter Exo-Force ($0.10) Music Twister Explore ($2.15) Perry Panda and Chester Chimp Fabuland ($0.86) Star Justice Factory ($0.11) Anniversary Tub Freestyle ($0.11) Party Train Friends ($0.13) Town Master Fusion ($0.16) Gabby's Dollhouse Gabby's Dollhouse ($0.21) Jens Galidor ($2.37) Ramses Pyramid Games ($0.14) Wooden Minifigure Gear ($0.24) Firehouse Headquarters Ghostbusters ($0.11) Quidditch Match Harry Potter ($0.12) Stormer 2.0 HERO Factory ($0.26) Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 Hidden Side ($0.10) Harley-Davidson 1000cc Hobby Set ($0.08) Nurse and Child Homemaker ($0.21) Elf Club House Icons ($0.08) NASA Apollo Saturn V Ideas ($0.09) Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb Indiana Jones ($0.12) Air Chase Island Xtreme Stunts ($0.30) Super Glider Jack Stone ($0.64) The Great Home Escape Juniors ($0.19) Jurassic Park Velociraptor Chase Jurassic World ($0.16) Razcal's Glider Legends of Chima ($0.16) Fire Fighter LEGOLAND ($1.09) Life Of George 1 Life of George ($0.24) Imagine and Build Make and Create ($0.08) Iron Man vs. Ultron Marvel Super Heroes ($0.13) Invention Designer Master Builder Academy ($0.15) Mickey's Fire Engine Mickey Mouse ($0.39) Mindstorms EV3 Mindstorms ($0.78) The Village Minecraft ($0.12) Brick-built Minions and their Lair Minions: The Rise of Gru ($0.17) Iconic Pencil Pot Miscellaneous ($0.27) Kamzo Mixels ($0.09) Giant Truck Model Team ($0.16) Demon Bull King Monkie Kid ($0.10) The Zombies Monster Fighters ($0.11) Ultimate Macy Nexo Knights ($0.15) NINJAGO City Gardens Ninjago ($0.18) D.Va & Reinhardt Overwatch ($0.10) Golden Staff Guardians Pharaoh's Quest ($0.21) Treasure Island Pirates ($0.20) Silent Mary Pirates of the Caribbean ($0.18) LEGO(r) Power Functions Motor Set Power Functions ($2.57) Granite Grinder Power Miners ($0.16) Hub Powered Up ($2.00) Caterpillar and Friends Primo ($1.78) The Fight for the Dagger Prince of Persia ($0.15) LEGO House Promotional ($0.08) Large Quatro Bucket Quatro ($0.76) Le Mans Racer Racers ($0.13) The Loader-Dozer Rock Raiders ($0.35) Antique Car Kit Samsonite ($0.32) Horse Stable Scala ($1.34) The Mystery Machine Scooby-Doo ($0.13) Easter Egg Hunt Seasonal ($0.13) Starter Kit Serious Play ($2.52) Tender 4.5V Battery Red. For Trains with Battery Motor 810 Service Packs ($0.77) Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot Sonic The Hedgehog ($0.12) Raid VPR Space ($0.14) McLaren P1 Speed Champions ($0.08) Spider-Man's Street Chase Spider-Man ($0.16) Heroic Heroes of the Deep SpongeBob SquarePants ($0.13) Flip Shot Sports ($0.23) Technojaw T55 Spybotics ($0.43) Rey's Speeder Star Wars ($0.14) The Upside Down Stranger Things ($0.09) Nesquik Bunny Film Set Studios ($0.40) Nintendo Entertainment System Super Mario ($0.22) European Taxi System ($0.09) Porsche 911 GT3 RS Technic ($0.12) Kraang Lab Escape Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($0.12) Pig City Teardown The Angry Birds Movie ($0.13) Escape from Mirkwood Spiders The Hobbit ($0.12) The Joker Balloon Escape The LEGO Batman Movie ($0.13) Melting Room The LEGO Movie ($0.10) Benny's Space Squad The LEGO Movie 2 ($0.14) Green Ninja Mech Dragon The LEGO Ninjago Movie ($0.09) Cavalry Builder Set The Lone Ranger ($0.14) Gandalf Arrives The Lord of the Rings ($0.12) Bubbles' Playground Showdown The Powerpuff Girls ($0.14) Kwik-E-Mart The Simpsons ($0.10) Flying Time Vessel Time Cruisers ($0.21) Holiday Home Town ($0.20) Army Men on Patrol Toy Story ($0.17) Freight Rail Runner Trains ($3.11) Volcano Rock City Concert Trolls World Tour ($0.13) Infearno Interception Ultra Agents ($0.12) Party Time Unikitty ($0.13) Basic Set Universal Building Set ($0.18) Party Llama BeatBox Vidiyo ($0.19) Viking Ship challenges the Midgard Serpent Vikings ($0.10) Showdown Canyon Western ($0.28) Firefighter World City ($0.16) World Race Buggy World Racers ($0.14) Sea Accessories Xtra ($0.28) Promotional Set Znap ($0.19) Average PPP for each category If Jared's suspicion is correct we ought to see that some categories have a much higher PPP than others, which would skew the comparison. Since we've got the PPP for each set, it's a simple matter to calculate the PPP for each category by averaging all individual values. If we display the average category PPP in a bar chart, we can quickly see if some categories differ a lot. Finding comparable categories Alright, Jared's suspicion is definitely correct - some categories sway the PPP comparison. The best way to solve this is by grouping the categories into comparable chunks. We want to ensure we compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, so to speak. Here's the breakdown I came up with. It roughly groups categories together by part types. Now, armed with this data, we can compare a set with other sets that are similar. You can see the grouping below, along with the average PPP of all times. But stick around - we can also see how prices have changed over the years! Baby (Average PPP: $1.45) Larger blocks for toddlers. Remote Control Dozer Action Wheelers ($1.58) Emmet and Lucy's Visitors from the DUPLO Planet Duplo ($0.97) Music Twister Explore ($2.15) Caterpillar and Friends Primo ($1.78) Large Quatro Bucket Quatro ($0.76) Junior (Average PPP: $0.65) Sets with larger parts, usually aimed at a younger audience to introduce them to the other themes. Doc Ock's Crime Spree 4 Juniors ($0.48) The Queen's Room Belville ($0.37) Perry Panda and Chester Chimp Fabuland ($0.86) Super Glider Jack Stone ($0.64) The Great Home Escape Juniors ($0.19) Horse Stable Scala ($1.34) System (Average PPP: $0.19) The sets we most often think of when we think of LEGO. Studs and tubes. Volkswagen T1 Camper Van Advanced models ($0.09) Scorpion Tracker Adventurers ($0.19) River Heist Agents ($0.12) Chill Speeder Alpha Team ($0.21) Deep Sea Treasure Hunter Aqua Raiders ($0.10) Neptune Discovery Lab Aquazone ($0.20) Buckingham Palace Architecture ($0.13) Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe Art ($0.05) Five Set Bonus Pack Assorted ($0.15) Wreck Raider Atlantis ($0.14) Toruk Makto & Tree of Souls Avatar ($0.12) Fire Nation Ship Avatar The Last Airbender ($0.10) Special Value Blue Tub Basic ($0.21) The Batcycle: Harley Quinn's Hammer Truck Batman ($0.12) Wave Cops Boats ($0.34) Batman Brick Sketches ($0.11) The Hulk BrickHeadz ($0.08) The LEGO Story Bricklink ($0.09) LEGO XXL Box Bricks and More ($0.09) Helicopter and Pilot Building Set with People ($0.52) U.S. Flag Bulk Bricks ($0.23) Tokyo Pit Stop Cars ($0.14) Classic Knights Minifigure Castle ($0.21) Pizza Van City ($0.18) Creative Supplement Bright Classic ($0.07) Pirate Ship Creator ($0.09) NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander Creator Expert ($0.09) Batman Classic TV Series - Batcave DC Comics Super Heroes ($0.14) Batgirl Batjet Chase DC Super Hero Girls ($0.12) Ambush Attack Dino ($0.17) Dino Track Transport Dino 2010 Steel Sprinter vs. Mutant Lizard Dino Attack ($0.14) Baby Dimetrodon Dinosaurs ($0.17) Mars Exploration Rover Discovery ($0.12) Disney Castle Disney ($0.16) Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny Dreamzzz ($0.10) Master Piece Educational The Water Dragon Adventure Elves ($0.11) Stealth Hunter Exo-Force ($0.10) Star Justice Factory ($0.11) Anniversary Tub Freestyle ($0.11) Party Train Friends ($0.13) Town Master Fusion ($0.16) Gabby's Dollhouse Gabby's Dollhouse ($0.21) Firehouse Headquarters Ghostbusters ($0.11) Quidditch Match Harry Potter ($0.12) Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 Hidden Side ($0.10) Harley-Davidson 1000cc Hobby Set ($0.08) Nurse and Child Homemaker ($0.21) Elf Club House Icons ($0.08) NASA Apollo Saturn V Ideas ($0.09) Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb Indiana Jones ($0.12) Air Chase Island Xtreme Stunts ($0.30) Jurassic Park Velociraptor Chase Jurassic World ($0.16) Finnius Dash LEGO Games Nexus Astronaut LEGO Universe Fire Fighter LEGOLAND ($1.09) Razcal's Glider Legends of Chima ($0.16) Life Of George 1 Life of George ($0.24) Imagine and Build Make and Create ($0.08) Iron Man vs. Ultron Marvel Super Heroes ($0.13) Invention Designer Master Builder Academy ($0.15) Mickey's Fire Engine Mickey Mouse ($0.39) The Village Minecraft ($0.12) Brick-built Minions and their Lair Minions: The Rise of Gru ($0.17) Medium house set Minitalia Kamzo Mixels ($0.09) Giant Truck Model Team ($0.16) Demon Bull King Monkie Kid ($0.10) The Zombies Monster Fighters ($0.11) Ultimate Macy Nexo Knights ($0.15) NINJAGO City Gardens Ninjago ($0.18) D.Va & Reinhardt Overwatch ($0.10) Golden Staff Guardians Pharaoh's Quest ($0.21) Treasure Island Pirates ($0.20) Silent Mary Pirates of the Caribbean ($0.18) Granite Grinder Power Miners ($0.16) PreSchool Set PreSchool The Fight for the Dagger Prince of Persia ($0.15) LEGO House Promotional ($0.08) Le Mans Racer Racers ($0.13) The Loader-Dozer Rock Raiders ($0.35) Antique Car Kit Samsonite ($0.32) The Mystery Machine Scooby-Doo ($0.13) Easter Egg Hunt Seasonal ($0.13) Starter Kit Serious Play ($2.52) Tender 4.5V Battery Red. For Trains with Battery Motor 810 Service Packs ($0.77) Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot Sonic The Hedgehog ($0.12) Raid VPR Space ($0.14) McLaren P1 Speed Champions ($0.08) Spider-Man's Street Chase Spider-Man ($0.16) Heroic Heroes of the Deep SpongeBob SquarePants ($0.13) Flip Shot Sports ($0.23) Rey's Speeder Star Wars ($0.14) The Upside Down Stranger Things ($0.09) Nesquik Bunny Film Set Studios ($0.40) Nintendo Entertainment System Super Mario ($0.22) European Taxi System ($0.09) Kraang Lab Escape Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($0.12) Pig City Teardown The Angry Birds Movie ($0.13) Escape from Mirkwood Spiders The Hobbit ($0.12) The Joker Balloon Escape The LEGO Batman Movie ($0.13) Melting Room The LEGO Movie ($0.10) Benny's Space Squad The LEGO Movie 2 ($0.14) Green Ninja Mech Dragon The LEGO Ninjago Movie ($0.09) Cavalry Builder Set The Lone Ranger ($0.14) Gandalf Arrives The Lord of the Rings ($0.12) Bubbles' Playground Showdown The Powerpuff Girls ($0.14) Kwik-E-Mart The Simpsons ($0.10) Flying Time Vessel Time Cruisers ($0.21) Holiday Home Town ($0.20) Army Men on Patrol Toy Story ($0.17) Volcano Rock City Concert Trolls World Tour ($0.13) Infearno Interception Ultra Agents ($0.12) Party Time Unikitty ($0.13) Basic Set Universal Building Set ($0.18) Party Llama BeatBox Vidiyo ($0.19) Viking Ship challenges the Midgard Serpent Vikings ($0.10) Showdown Canyon Western ($0.28) Firefighter World City ($0.16) World Race Buggy World Racers ($0.14) Sea Accessories Xtra ($0.28) Technic (Average PPP: $0.25) Not studs and tubes, but pins and beams. Koi FORMA Technojaw T55 Spybotics ($0.43) Porsche 911 GT3 RS Technic ($0.12) Promotional Set Znap ($0.19) Constraction (Average PPP: $0.96) Action figure parts, basically. Definitely not system and barely technic. Jet Ray Ben 10: Alien Force ($0.95) Lewa - Master of Jungle Bionicle ($0.25) Jens Galidor ($2.37) Stormer 2.0 HERO Factory ($0.26) Robotics & Electronics (Average PPP: $1.73) Sets with electronics. Boost Creative Toolbox Boost ($0.20) Mindstorms EV3 Mindstorms ($0.78) LEGO(r) Power Functions Motor Set Power Functions ($2.57) Hub Powered Up ($2.00) Freight Rail Runner Trains ($3.11) Other (Average PPP: $0.95) Categories that are hard to group with the others. Not really bricks, most of the times. Musical Apple Baby ($2.47) DC Comics Super Heroes Build Your Own Adventure Books ($2.67) Stylin' Citrus Jewels-n-More Clikits ($0.23) Stitch Collectable Minifigures ($0.45) Technic II Powered Machines Set Dacta ($2.62) Portal 2 Level Pack Dimensions ($0.31) Cosmic Wonder Bracelet Dots ($0.09) Community Minifigure Set Education ($0.94) Ramses Pyramid Games ($0.14) Wooden Minifigure Gear ($0.24) Iconic Pencil Pot Miscellaneous ($0.27) Unknown And now, the ultimate question: what has happened to LEGO prices over the years? With this grouping done we can do a quick calculation to figure out what the true Price Per Part has been over the years. Many people quote that a set should be priced at around $0.10 per part to be worthwhile. Is this the average? Looking at the data, System and Technic sets have been pretty stable around $0.11 - $0.13 per part the last couple of years. Other categories are higher. We might need to revise that guideline a bit! Play around with the chart below to have a closer look. You can toggle a category by clicking on it in the legend. Fun stuff! How do I use it? Whew, that was a rabbit hole, to say the least. With all of this done, the following things have now been improved on Brick Insights: * Inflation adjusted prices: In addition to showing set prices in USD when we have them, we also show these prices adjusted to inflation. That means you can see what Rey's Speeder from 2015 would cost if it was released today at the same price. This goes for set price, price per part, and price per minifig. * More relevant PPP and PPM comparisons: PPP and PPM now compares to the set's comparable category. Duplo, Electronics and other weird categories no longer skew the comparison for system sets! I have to say, doing this deep dive was super fascinating. I hope it'll prove useful to you. As always, let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements. Hold on! I want to dig deeper into the data! Happy to oblige - here's a bonus page with details. It contains charts displaying PPP and PPM for each category and comparable category over the years. Have fun! Brick Insights * Sets + Find sets + Set categories * Statistics + Price per part + Recommendations + Latest reviews + Rating by year + The reviewers + Rating distribution * Brick Insights + FAQ + Widgets + Export New insights every week! Name [ ] E-mail [ ] Sign up We can send you a weekly report every Friday containing the latest reviews we've found. It's this report, but via mail! This site is part of the Swooshable Family. We're a collection of sites and tools that help adult LEGO fans have even more fun with their hobby. Made with in Malmo, Sweden by Linus Bohman and friends with contributions from all over the world. Brick Insights Brick Insights Brick Insights is a LEGO review aggregator. We collect LEGO reviews from all over the net and analyse them. At worst we're the largest index of LEGO set reviews on the net. 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